Our live coverage of President Trump’s meeting with top House and Senate Democrats has ended. Scroll through the posts below to see how it all unfolded.
After House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi left a contentious meeting with President Trump at the White House, she returned to Capitol Hill and spoke to members at a closed meeting of the Steering and Policy Committee.
According to an aide in the room, Pelosi said she was “trying to be the mom” in the meeting with Trump.
“You can’t let him take you down that path,” Pelosi said, according to an aide in the room. “But the fact is we did get him to say, to fully own that the shutdown was his.”
Hear more:
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told reporters at his weekly press conference that he is hopeful Democrats and President Trump can cut a deal before Christmas, despite the rhetoric we just heard at the Oval Office.
McConnell said he believes there can still be a “Christmas miracle.”
What happened earlier today: Trump clashed with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi over funding for his border wall. The President threatened to shut down the government if funding for his border wall is not included in the government spending package.
Hear more:
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said at a private reception for departing House members Tuesday afternoon that President Trump’s remarks at the White House earlier amounted to a “tirade,” a person who was in the room told CNN.
This is similar to what she said publicly, but it shows how Democrats viewed the meeting as off-the-rails.
White House press secretary Sarah Sanders just released a readout of the meeting between President Trump and Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer.
In the statement, Sanders called the meeting a “constructive dialogue.” She said the President was “grateful for the opportunity to let the press” into the meeting.
“Major disagreement remains on the issue of border security and transparency,” the readout read.
Here’s the full statement:
Vice President Mike Pence told CNN the atmosphere in the closed portion of the meeting between President Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer was “very candid.”
Pence described the overall meeting as a “good discussion” and said that “it went on quite a while after” the cameras left.
He spoke with reporters briefly as he entered a lunch with Senate Republicans.
Reporters just asked Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer what he thought of the extraordinary meeting with President Trump.
“I think the President showed what he really thinks. He wants to shut down the government,” Schumer said.
Asked if Schumer was expecting that reality TV atmosphere, he said no, “We were not expecting it.”
Hear more:
A lot was said during the tense meeting between President Donald Trump, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, which was broadcast moments ago on CNN.
But one man said nothing at all.
Vice President Mike Pence didn’t say a thing. In fact, he barely shifted his position in the high-backed chair seated next to President Trump. But that silence won’t last forever – if there would ever be a tie in the Senate, Pence will have to speak.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, speaking to reporters, explained how she tried to convince President Trump to keep the government open and avoid a shutdown.
She said she told Trump that the new House of Representatives would pass six appropriations bills and have a continuing resolution until the end of next September.
Watch it here:
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer warned Tuesday in front of the White House that there will be a government shutdown if President Donald Trump refuses to budge from his demand for $5 billion of wall funding. He spoke after the tense meeting with President Trump.
Schumer insisted that Democrats “have offered” border security funding and warned of what he and Pelosi have termed a “Trump shutdown.”
“This Trump shutdown, this temper tantrum that he seems to throw, will not get him his wall and will hurt a lot of people,” Schumer said.
Watch more:
Aides never expected this meeting to go smoothly — they just didn’t think the public would see it, CNN’s Phil Mattingly explained moments after it aired.
“This was entirely predictable. In talking to aides really involved in these negotiations directly over the course of the last 12 to 15 hours, they expected something like this. They just expected it to happen behind the scenes,” Mattingly said.
No one expected this to “be a meeting where a deal was made,” Mattingly said. Instead, it was a place for parties to “put their stakes in the ground.”
“These types of meetings, these types of break downs, these types of very public impasses need to occur before people settle down and actually start trying to make a deal,” he added.
One key thing to note: The Democrats may walk away with a key sound bite.
Here’s how Mattingly explained it: For Democrats the takeaway may be “the President saying flatly, despite what Republicans said repeatedly, ‘If there is a shut down, I will take the mantle. If there is a shut down, it is my shut down.’ That is what Democrats want … That’s what you are going to see on repeat over the next couple of days.”
So what happens now? There’s still 11 days ahead of the government shutdown. That’s still plenty of time for a deal.
Watch more from Mattingly:
President Trump, in a testy exchange with Democratic leaders Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer in the Oval Office, told them, “I am proud to shut down the government for border security.”
Here’s the full exchange:
Schumer: “One thing I think we can agree on is we shouldn’t shut down the government over a dispute. You want to shut it down.”
Trump: “The last time you shut it down.”
Schumer: “No. 20 times you called for, ‘I will shut down the government if I don’t get my wall.’ You said it. You said it.”
Trump: “You know what I will say? Yes. If we don’t get what we want through you or through military or anyone you want to call, I will shut down the government.”
Schumer: “We disagree.”
Trump: “I am proud to shut down the government for border security, Chuck. The people of this country don’t want criminals and people that have lots of problems and drugs pouring into our country. I will take the mantle. I will be the one to shut it down. I’m not going to blame you for it The last time you shut it down it didn’t work. I will take the mantle for shutting down. I’m going to shut it down for border security.
Schumer: “But we believe you shouldn’t shut it down.”
See it:
President Donald Trump and Nancy Pelosi argued in the Oval Office over whether there are enough votes to avoid a government shutdown.
“I think the American people recognize that we must keep government open. That a shutdown is not worth anything and that we should not have a Trump shutdown,” Pelosi said.
“Did you say Trump? Oh,” the President responded.
“You have the votes. You should pass it —,” Pelosi continued.
“No we do not have the votes, because in the Senate we need 60 votes we don’t have —, “Trump said.
“But in the House —,” Pelosi said.
“Excuse me, but I can’t get it passed in the House if it’s not going to pass in the Senate. I don’t want to waste time,” Trump added.
Pelosi later said that she didn’t think they should be having a debate in front of the press on the issue, but Pelosi, Trump, and Chuck Schumer continued doing just that.
In the extremely heated Oval Office spray between President Trump, Schumer and Pelosi, the two Democratic leaders were quick to point out the results of the 2018 midterms telling the President, “Elections have consequences Mr. President.”
“We did,” Trump shot back, as he did every quip the two leaders shot his way.
“Elections have consequences, Mr. President,” Schumer told Trump minutes later, to which Trump responded: “and that’s why the country is doing so well.”
President Donald Trump publicly clashed with the top House and Senate Democrats over funding for the border wall and the prospects of a government shutdown during an Oval Office meeting that was open to the press.
Trump repeatedly touted the importance of securing funding for border wall construction and was rebuffed by Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi who made clear that they would hold Trump responsible if the government shuts down.
“One way or the other it’s going to get built. I’d like not to see a government closing, a shutdown,” Trump said. “But the wall is a very important thing to us.”
The sparks appeared to begin to fly after Pelosi characterized the possibility of a shutdown as a “Trump shutdown.”
Pelosi and Schumer repeatedly sought to end the open press portion of the meeting, telling the President they should debate in private, not in front of the cameras.
“Let us have our conversation and then we can meet with the press again,” Pelosi said.
Watch the moment:
President Trump invited House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi to speak in front of the press during their Oval Office meeting, where she referred to a potential shutdown as a “Trump shutdown.”
“Did you say Trump?” the President interrupted. Pelosi moved on.
President Trump held an Oval Office meeting with Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer that quickly descended into arguments, offering a first look at what divided government might look like in Washington as the new Democratic-led House comes to town.
Watch it above in the video player.
